Raptors Future Looks Bleaker With Turkoglu Comments

Great read courtesy of Tim Chisholm from TSN.

Maybe its just mean, but I smell a big ole' rebuild upon us here in Toronto. Dare I say, next year's version of this season's New Jersey Nets? I mean, all this negative buzz regarding this franchise certainly isn't going to draw alot of positive buzz in attracting new players to Toronto anytime soon.

Now that Hedo has made it difficult for the Raptors to bring him back, though, the future of the team looks oddly bleaker than it did when Bosh refused to endorse Toronto as a likely destination for his services next season. A solid sign-and-trade for Bosh, a smart draft pick, a wise expenditure of the mid-level exception and a thoughtful trade of Jose Calderon or the team's expiring contracts painted a picture of the future that wasn't as bleak as one would have thought of a future without Bosh. Hedo could have been used more as a playmaker, which would have played to his strengths, Andrea Bargnani's versatility as an offensive weapon would have been on greater display and the dark cloud of Bosh's future would have been eradicated from the minds of the organization and the fan base forever. Without Hedo, though, the team suddenly looks a lot younger, a lot less battle-tested and the future simply looks as unclear as it has at any time since the spring of 1998.

The key to all of this isn't so much whether or not Hedo stays (although I do genuinely believe he would have had a bounce-back year in 2010-11), it's about how staggeringly uncertain the immediate future of the Raptors has become after his revelations.

Looking at the Raptors roster, you can now only say that one player is assured to be with the team when training camp opens in October (Bargnani), and only two others look likely to be joining him (DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems). Colangelo is on record as having said that one of his two point guards is on the way out, so until we know if that point guard is Calderon or Jarrett Jack, you can't pencil either into the rotation. Reggie Evans and Marcus Banks are both $5-million-ish expiring deals, both of which will be in play all summer (and up to the trade deadline) on the open market, so their services are hardly guaranteed. The team wants Amir Johnson back, but he's an unrestricted free agent and will no doubt shop around before committing himself anywhere. Antoine Wright, Rasho Nesterovic and Patrick O'Bryant are also free agents, but the team hasn't appeared as interested in retaining any of the three. Marco Belinelli and Joey Dorsey are sort of fringe players right now, and even if they do both return it is uncertain how relevant that would be to the team anyway.